Paper-file



(No Model.)

J. S. SHANNON.

PAPER FILE. No. 254,847.

Patented Mar. 14,1881

v UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. SHANNON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 254,847, dated March 14, 1882. Application filed July 26, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, J AMES S. SHANNON, of Chicago, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper- Files; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to paper-files having receiving-wires; and it consists in providing a punch attached to the file base or tablet, adapted to simultaneously punch as many holes in the papers to be filed as there are receiving-wires on the file, and to punch them somewhat larger than and in proper position to admit said receiving-wires. By this means the papers may lie closer and smoother on the file. They may be shifted more freely on the wires, and the apertures therein are not torn out or enlarged in filing or shifting them. It is more particularly intended as an improvement on the files described in Letters Patent of the United States Nos. 2l7,907 and 2l7,909, dated July 29, 1879, wherein the receiving wires are sharpened to puncture the papers, and wherein transferring-wires are employed in connection with the receiving-wires. In the use of said files the papers are often shifted from one pair of wires to the other, and it is found that in such frequent transfers the apertures made by the puncturing-wires are apt to be torn out or enlarged. Moreover, in the act of filing by thrusting the papers down upon the wires the edges ofthe apertures so made are ragged, a burr, so to speak, is formed about the holes in the paper, and in pressing the papers down and in shifting them the burrs of one sheet enter the holes in the adjacent sheet above it, so that the sheets are not readily separable without inconvenience or tearing. By providing on the file a punch adapted by a single motion to cut clean-edged holes in the papers corresponding with the number and" position of the receiving-wires, and a littlelarger than the wires, the papers so punched may be more expeditiously filed, they will he flat and compact upon the tablet, they may be freely transferred from the receiving to the transfer wires and back again,

and in no ordinarily careful handling are they liable to be torn. The drawings show, in Figure 1, a perspective view of the file with pupch applied to the foot of the board or tablet. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the punch and board in the line as a: of Figs. 1 and 3. Fig. 3 is an elevation.

A is the base-board or tablet. B B are the receivingewires. O O are the transfer-wires.

D designates the punch as a whole. This punch has distinctively novel features which will form the subject of special application for patent. I do not therefore herein claim the same, except as forming part ofthe file. Said punch consists of two plates, aandb, both preferably of sheet-steel, riveted together at one margin, as shown at c 0. One piece ofsteel may be bent to form both plates, if preferred. The lower plate, b, is secured to the edge of the base A, as shown, and has fixed steel punches d d,secured thereto near its outer margin and at a distance apart corresponding with that between the receiving-wires B B. The upper plate, a, is apertured at c c to receive the punches d. The plates a and b are so joined or constructed as to stand apart at their free edges, permitting one or several sheets to be inserted between the punches d and the plate a. E E are brackets or low standards, secured to the plate b or to the base A, in position to form a gage against which the papers are pushed preliminary to punching them, to insure uniformity of position in the holes with reference to the top edge of the sheets.

F is a stout bent wire, constituting a lever, hinged at its ends like a bale to the standards E, and curved at i in such manner, as shown, thatby pressing down with the hand upon the outer or central curved portion of the wire lever the upper plate, a, is forced downward, driving the papers before it over the punches d. The punch-plates c and b open or separate by their resiliency on releasing the lever. A spring, m, aperturrd to drop over the punches d, .as shown, is arranged to lift the papers above the latter, and thereby permit said papers to be readily withdrawn. The punchesd are made larger than the wires B to facilitate filing of the papers apertured by them, and to prevent said papers binding on the wires when tilted and shifted.

IOC

The gage-wires G, located beneath the arches formed of the receiving and transferring wires B B and O 0, correspond in their distance ward to rest on the tablet beneath the papers,

and so be entirely out of the way when notin use; or it may be tilted forward over or upon the papers, and so serve to confine theirlower edges. By reason of its location at the edge of the base-board, as shown, the punch is accessiblefor use, even when covered with tiled papers.

The above-described punch is at once light, cheap, effective, and durable. It is therefore, and also by reason of its flat shape, extremely well fitted to form part of a file. The file is not by the application thereto of said punch rendered less portable or convenient of handling, while the presence of the punch upon a file required to be moved frequently from place to place about an office is of obvious advantage.

I claim-as my invention- 1. The paper-file described, consisting of a base, A, and two parallel receiving-wires, B B, provided with a double punch mounted upon the same base, and adapted to simultaneously punch two holes in the paper in position and of size to admit the receiving-wires, substantially as set forth.

2. The paper-file consisting of a base, A, having receiving-wires B arranged at one end of the base, provided with the punch described, consisting essentially of the fixed studs d, the apertured movable plate a, and the hinged cam-lever F, secured to the base at the opposite end, and adapted to perforate the papers to (it the wires B, substantially as set forth.

3. The paper-file consisting of the base A, receiving-wires B, and a gage, G, provided with a punch adapted to perforate the papers to fit the wires, and havin g a gage corresponding with the gage of the receiving-wires, substantiall y as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence ot'two witnesses.

JAMES S. SHANNON.

Witnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, PETER J. ELLERT. 

